Here is Minnesota's COVID-19 update for Thursday, March 25

Thursday's COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 1,857 new cases and 16 new deaths.

The 16 new deaths increases the state's death toll to 6,814 over the course of the pandemic. Of the total deaths, 62.5% (4,264) were residents of long-term care.

Through Mar. 23, the state reported that 1,475,130 people have received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while 878,469 people have completed both doses of vaccine that are required for the vaccines' maximum effect. 

MDH has a public dashboard to track vaccine progress in Minnesota, and you can view it here.

Hospitalizations

Hospital numbers for Thursday have not been updated as of this writing. 

Through Mar. 23, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 332, which is up from 324 reported Monday. There were 223 people with COVID-19 admitted to hospitals in Minnesota on Mar. 6, so the numbers are rising.

Of those hospitalized, 93 were in intensive care (up from 87 reported Monday) and 239 were receiving non-ICU treatment (up from 237).

Testing and positivity rates

The 1,857 positive results in Thursday's update were from 40,859 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 4.54%

According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota's test positivity rate over the past seven days is 4.90%.

The World Health Organization recommends that a percent positive rate (total positives divided by total completed tests) of below 5% for at least two weeks is necessary to safely reopen the economy. That 5% threshold is based on total positives divided by total tests.

Coronavirus in Minnesota by the numbers

• Total tests: 8,046,775 (up from 8,006,344)
• People tested: 3,636,621 (up from 3,624,885)
• People with at least 1 vaccine shot: 1,475,130 (up from 1,454,834)
• People who have completed. vaccine series: 878,469 (up from 862,955)
• Positive cases: 510,398 (up from 508,541)
• Deaths: 6,814 – 374 of which are "probable*" (no change from 6,798)
• Patients no longer requiring isolation: 492,058 (up from 491,410)

* Probable deaths are patients who died after testing positive using the COVID-19 antigen test, which is thought to be less accurate than the more common PCR test.